Vermillion Wealth Management Inc. Makes New $245,000 Investment in The Southern Company (NYSE:SO)

Vermillion Wealth Management Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of The Southern Company (NYSE:SO - Free Report) in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund acquired 2,979 shares of the utilities provider's stock, valued at approximately $245,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. YANKCOM Partnership purchased a new position in shares of Southern in the 4th quarter worth $26,000. Kohmann Bosshard Financial Services LLC bought a new position in Southern in the fourth quarter valued at about $35,000. WFA Asset Management Corp boosted its position in Southern by 84.9% in the fourth quarter. WFA Asset Management Corp now owns 429 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $35,000 after purchasing an additional 197 shares during the last quarter. Valley National Advisers Inc. grew its stake in shares of Southern by 244.4% during the 4th quarter. Valley National Advisers Inc. now owns 434 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $35,000 after purchasing an additional 308 shares during the period. Finally, Murphy & Mullick Capital Management Corp purchased a new stake in shares of Southern during the 4th quarter valued at about $37,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 64.10% of the company's stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Southern

In other news, EVP Martin Bernard Davis sold 1,125 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $89.61, for a total transaction of $100,811.25. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 102,090 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $9,148,284.90. The trade was a 1.09% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO Kimberly S. Greene sold 32,190 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Monday, March 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $93.12, for a total value of $2,997,532.80. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 106,819 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $9,946,985.28. This represents a 23.16% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.16% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Southern Price Performance

Shares of Southern stock traded up $0.43 on Thursday, hitting $88.65. 3,670,435 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 4,500,410. The Southern Company has a 52 week low of $76.64 and a 52 week high of $94.45. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $89.85 and a 200 day simple moving average of $87.23. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.60, a quick ratio of 0.66 and a current ratio of 0.67. The stock has a market capitalization of $97.43 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.11, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.01 and a beta of 0.40.

Southern (NYSE:SO - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 1st. The utilities provider reported $1.23 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $1.20 by $0.03. Southern had a net margin of 16.47% and a return on equity of 12.23%. The company had revenue of $7.78 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $7.17 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.03 EPS. Southern's revenue for the quarter was up 17.0% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts expect that The Southern Company will post 4.29 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Southern Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 6th. Investors of record on Monday, May 19th will be paid a dividend of $0.74 per share. This is a positive change from Southern's previous quarterly dividend of $0.72. This represents a $2.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.34%. Southern's dividend payout ratio is presently 70.64%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

SO has been the topic of a number of research reports. Barclays raised their price objective on shares of Southern from $83.00 to $90.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a report on Tuesday, April 22nd. UBS Group boosted their price objective on shares of Southern from $94.00 to $97.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Friday, March 21st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded Southern from an "underweight" rating to a "neutral" rating and set a $94.00 price objective for the company in a research note on Tuesday, April 8th. Morgan Stanley reissued an "outperform" rating on shares of Southern in a report on Thursday, March 20th. Finally, Mizuho upped their price target on Southern from $83.00 to $85.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have assigned a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $92.21.

Southern Company Profile

The Southern Company, through its subsidiaries, engages in the generation, transmission, and distribution of electricity. The company also develops, constructs, acquires, owns, and manages power generation assets, including renewable energy projects and sells electricity in the wholesale market; and distributes natural gas in Illinois, Georgia, Virginia, and Tennessee, as well as provides gas marketing services, gas distribution operations, and gas pipeline investments operations.